Tiger Woods is going for his sixth World Challenge victory this week, and his first since 2011. He also won in 2001, ’04, ’06 and ’07. Woods’ five win are more than anyone else has in this event. Graeme McDowell and Davis Love III have t wo apiece.
Here are some other things You Oughta Know about this week’s Hero World Challenge in New Providence, Bahamas.
• Woods has plummeted to a career-low world ranking of 898, but the freefall stops this week. Whether Woods wins or finishes last, he’ll improve his ranking by the proverbial leaps and bounds. If Woods wins – and he has won this event five times – he is projected to jump to No. 125. If he finishes last – and he hasn’t played competitively in 466 days – he’ll still move up more than 150 spots.
• With 79 PGA Tour wins, Woods is three behind Sam Snead for the all-time lead. But he won’t make up any ground this week, as the Hero World Challenge is an unofficial event (though it does award world ranking points).
• Hideki Matsuyama has won three of his last four starts worldwide and was second in the other one).
• Jordan Spieth won his last start (Australian Open); that was his third worldwide win of 2016.
• Defending champion Bubba Watson is trying to join Woods as the only players to successfully defend their titles in this event.
• Since Woods last played on Tour (2015 Wyndham Championship), eight players have won multiple times. Jason Day has the most wins in that span with five. Spieth and Dustin Johnson have three apiece. Five other players have two wins apiece.
• Since the beginning of 2014, Woods has more rounds in the 80s (three) than top-10 finishes (one).
• Since Woods turned pro, his 79 PGA Tour wins are 46 more than any other player. Phil Mickeson is second with 33, followed by Vijay Singh (31) and Ernie Els (16).
• Woods will be 41 at the 2017 Masters. The only player in major championship history to win three or more majors after turning 41 was Old Tom Morris a century and a half ago.
Compiled from information provided by Golf Channel senior researcher Justin Ray.
